Originally developed in tubular steel by a Dutch architect and furniture designer Mart Stam in the 1920s, soon after its invention cantilever chair has found itself the centre of attention, inspiration and reinterpretation among some of the most prominent Bauhaus figures such as Marcel Breuer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Later, in 1960s, Verner Panton has popularised the form by creating the now-iconic, curvilinear ‘Panton’ chair which, at the time, was the first cantilevered chair made from a single piece of plastic. Since then, the ‘chair without legs’ has been revisited and refashioned innumerable amount of times by designers from across the globe. Now, to celebrate the history and undeniable adaptability of cantilever chair, Munich’s International Design Museum has organised a special guest exhibition which opened earlier last week (21 March) at the Bauhaus Archive in Berlin.

Showcasing some 25 models by modern and contemporary designers such as Alexander Begge, Marcel Breuer, Henrik Frederiksen, Frank O. Gehry, Konstantin Grcic, Jindrich Halabala, Stefan Heiliger, Poul Henningsen, Rudolf Horn, Antonin Kybal, Cesare Leonardi, Ross Lovegrove, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Verner Panton, Bernard Rancillac, Mart Stam, and Ladislav Zak, Chairs without legs ‘offers an impression of the ways in which chairs without legs have developed since their beginnings, through the use of high‐technology production methods and new types of material.’

‘Die Neue Sammlung – The International Design Museum Munich is showing a special exhibition from 21 March to 10 June 2012 on a guest basis at the Bauhaus Archive in Berlin. The world’s oldest and largest design collection from Munich is presenting “chairs without legs” in the tradition of the cantilever chair, with exhibits specially selected from its own holdings. As early as the 1920s, renowned Bauhaus figures such as Marcel Breuer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe were designing cantilever chairs made of steel tubing, which transferred the concept of lightness and transparency from architecture into the field of furniture‐making.’

Wiggle Side Chair by Frank O. Gehry (1972); photo courtesy of The International Design Museum Munich